High surf threatens Imperial Beach homes

Residents trying to protect property from erosion

Residents of a condominium complex have placed sandbags to protect against the high tides and big waves that have removed much of the sand that was a barrier between their property and the ocean. Some residents blame a nearby development for the problem.
— Peggy Peattie / UNION-TRIBUNE

Residents of a condominium complex have placed sandbags to protect against the high tides and big waves that have removed much of the sand that was a barrier between their property and the ocean. Some residents blame a nearby development for the problem.
— Peggy Peattie / UNION-TRIBUNE

People gathered in January at the end of Palm Avenue to watch the large waves break. Imperial Beach has been battling erosion for years. Funding for a planned replenishment project never materialized. Mayda Winter

People gathered in January at the end of Palm Avenue to watch the large waves break. Imperial Beach has been battling erosion for years. Funding for a planned replenishment project never materialized. Mayda Winter

IMPERIAL BEACH  All that remains of a small, sandy beachfront yard once filled with lounge chairs and a fire pit are precariously stacked, protective boulders that residents of a four-unit Imperial Beach condominium complex say have sunk up to 10 feet.

A particularly damaging mix of high tides and high surf and a growing number of winter storms have stripped the sand from much of Imperial Beach, resulting in an emergency situation for Bill and Marty Arbuckle and their neighbors on Ocean Lane. They have asked the city to permit them to temporarily protect their condos with special 6-by-6-foot sandbags.

“This is the first time since we’ve lived here that we’ve had this kind of a problem,” Bill Arbuckle said last week from his home of 12 years as wisps of water from crashing waves reached his second-story sliding-glass door.

Imperial Beach officials, who approved the condominium owners’ request for temporary shoreline protection, say the problem isn’t limited to those at the condominiums.

“Shoreline erosion is a constant in our city but we’ve had consistent high storm and high tide events since December,” said Community Development Director Greg Wade. “Encinitas, Carlsbad and other coastal cities are having similar issues. The surf is so consistently high, there is no time for sand to settle back on the beach, which provides protection.”

The Ocean Beach Pier was damaged from high surf Feb. 28. The high surf in late February also caused the scouring of the Arbuckles’ property.

Wade said the city has been working for years on plans to bring sand to its shores. The Silver Strand Shoreline Renourishment Project was designed to protect the city’s shoreline against storm damage with periodic sand deposits for 50 years. It was authorized in November 2007 in a $23 billion federal water-funding bill, but the money never came through. Some smaller replenishment projects have been successfully completed.

Damaging waves are nothing new in these parts. Locals remember storms through the years that have sent walls of water into businesses along Seacoast Drive, stripped nearly every bit of sand from the city’s beach and once tore off the end of the Imperial Beach Pier.

But the Arbuckles and others lay some of the blame on an award-winning $4 million Palm Avenue improvement project near the beach built by the San Diego Unified Port District. The project, which opened in early 2009, included a sea wall, beach access ramps and a plaza.

The residents say waves deflect off the project and toward their property.

The city and the port deny the project caused any damage to adjacent properties.

Wade said a sea wall was recommended when the building was constructed in 1980.

“Compounded by El Niño conditions, more of the sand has been washed away and we anticipate it will come back in the spring and summer,” Akhavain said. “We don’t believe this has been caused by the improvements we put in.”